bonace

Forms

bonace f (plural bonaces)^[1] Old French bounasse (before 1266); bonache (1552, Rabelais) reflects Italian.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *bonacia, an alteration after bonus (“good”) of Latin malacia (“calm of the sea”), which was wrongly taken as derived from malus (“bad”).^[3][4][1][5] The Latin word is in fact borrowed from Ancient Greek μαλακία (malakía, “softness, slackness”), from μαλακός (malakós, “soft”).^[3][2]

The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and the GLLF take the French word through the Provençal form bonassa.^[2][6][7] Rey prefers direct descent from the popular Latin form, because the word is old in the whole Romance area, and rejects a borrowing from Italian, which has the sense “calm of the sea” only from the 14th century; only the form with ⟨ch⟩ reflects Italian.^[3]

Cognate with Italian bonaccia and Portuguese bonança.^[4][8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded at the end of the 12th century,^[2][6] or about 1220 according to Bloch and Wartburg,^[4] for a calm at sea.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word names a very calm sea, especially before or after a storm.^[3][6] In Middle French it also meant fine weather on land and, by metaphor, peace of mind; these senses went out of use.^[3] Littré says the figurative sense was very common in the 17th century and rare in his time,^[8] and Jal called the word obsolete in 1848, though it remained in use.^[3]

Used as an adjective of a flat sea, it gave bonace “calm” (1288), the later bonasse, whose pejorative sense “meek, simple-minded” comes from the suffix it seemed to have.^[3][4]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – First record.^[2][6]
• 1288 – Used as an adjective, “calm”, of the sea or the weather.^[4][3]
• 1552 – Rabelais has the Italian form bonache.^[3]
• 1848 – Jal calls the word obsolete.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) A dead calm of the sea, before or after a storm: Les voiliers attendaient au port la fin de la bonace.^[6][9][7]
2. (figurative, literary) A lull, a period of calm amid danger or strife.^[7][9]

Word family

• bonasse

Related words

• bon
• malaxer
• Latin malacia

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 79a
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard